Silicon carbide films were produced by r.f. magnetron sputtering from a sintered SiC target onto Si(100) substrates kept at constant temperature T = 700 K, with a r.f. power of 300 W and argon gas pressure ranging from 1 X 10(-2) to 4 Pa. Atomic force microscopy in contact mode was used in order to study the structure and the roughness of the surface while lateral force microscopy was used to evaluate the friction coefficient of SiC films deposited under different experimental conditions. Films produced at very low argon pressures present pits on the surface. The density of pits decreases when argon pressure in the chamber is increased and films present a very smooth surface free of point defects at pressures of approximately 0.25 Pa. A further increase in the pressure increases the roughness dramatically. Films change from a smooth, stressed structure for low argon pressure to a granular-like structure with no measurable internal stress for deposition pressures of 4 Pa. An increase of the friction coefficient with argon pressure was also observed and may be associated to variation of the chemical composition of the films.